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Sunday, 1 February 2015

The Hutt (kind of) recommends: Reviver

Reviver by Seth Patrick.Don't get the title wrong here, I really liked this book. I appreciated the characters, and the story (though sometimes on the slow side) captured my interest. To be honest, it had me nervously looking over my shoulder for strange apparitions after the first chapter.But there was one thing that really stuck with me: the crying.Forensic reviver Jonah Miller cries all the time. Because he's sad about losing his mother. Sad about people leaving him. Sad about being alone. Sad about the fact that doing the only thing he ever felt good at, reviving, is bringing him nothing but heartache (and as it happens, headache). Thus he acts like a normal human being; he drinks a bit of alcohol, hugs his cat and lets the tears run wild. Why will this stick with me? Because I rarely get to read about it (or see it in movies). There's a widespread societal norm saying that men don't cry and personally I hate it. Tears might be hinted at (it pissed me right the fuck off in The Blade Itself - did he cry OR WAS IT THE RAIN ALL ALONG, WE WILL NEVER KNOW) or they might have the less stereotypically 'manly' character break down (see Rocky Raccoon in Guardian of the Galaxy, guiding word is 'raccoon' here) but to have these emotions dealt with in a natural way is rare. And it just struck me how sad it is that I react to it so strongly and find it refreshing.Lets get on with the book itself:Reviving is about bringing back the essence of a recently deceased person for a short period of time and talking to them for a score of different reasons; for the idea of closure for close family, to catch a murderer or whatever other reason there may be. Only a few people can do this and even fewer do it well. Jonah is one of those people. So when the author that introduced reviving and its vast possibilities to the world is murdered, Jonah sees his opportunity to give back to the person that gave him his career. What he doesn't expect is the impact of the information said author discloses.On the other hand I'll have to admit that by the middle of the book you can see exactly where things are going and why. It's a classic tale where noone can claim innocence. The book's neither amazing nor groundbreaking but it's good.And then there's the crying.